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So with a whole weekend’s worth of hurricane rain keeping me inside and away from yardwork I decided what better time to finally sit down and put together this monster. It took me two afternoons and about a season of M*A*S*H on Netflix. But, let’s be honest, I wasn’t totally concentrating on putting the bricks together. A dedicated builder could easily assemble this over the course of a full afternoon and evening. So here’s a quick look at the building process and the final resultDespite the complexity of the build, the directions were pretty easy to follow. The interior workings of the ship are simply something to marvel at. I don’t know how these guys come up with the different ways to connect pieces to make it look like the real damn thing – but they are damn good at their jobs!

There are many, many tiny pieces in the build, so be careful when you’re pouring them out.I neglected to take a photo of it, but the ‘minifig’ of Han Solo frozen in Carbonite is tucked away up inside of the ship at the top of the loading ramp. It’s a small detail that you really never see but you love it because you know it’s there.The way the stabilizers are connected to the main body is tenuous at best, which is probably why this is more for show than for play. A nice detail is they change position on their own depending on the orientation of the ship. When you lift it to its vertical traveling position, they flop down, but tuck up horizontally when the ship is in landing mode (as you can see).The cockpit starts to take shape and the overall shape of the ship begins to become apparent.The nose of the ship comes together in multiple pieces that are attached via the sticks through the holes. It works well enough and provides enough solidity.Another fabulous detail is the cockpit seat itself. It turns 90 degrees to match the flight mode of the ship (as seen in the movies).It doesn’t flop around freely, which is for the best. But once again the computer panels and overall display of the cockpit experience is top notch for being made of tiny little plastic pieces.The side panels can be touchy since they are so skinny, but once they are on they’re OK. Pulling the missile doors out is hard because there isn’t a handle, and when you do it pulls on the whole side panel which is only attached at the front of the ship – there is no connection to the big red drive section of the ship. So use caution. And finally – finished! You can see both Boba Fett in the cockpit, and another one of the included minifigs for scale. This thing is large and in charge, and it’s fabulous. Nothing but the best for the galaxy’s most badass bounty hunter!

The stand for this ship is better than the stand for the UCS Red 5 X-Wing – at least in my opinion. I didn’t like how that one leaned back but still gave you the option of keep it straight up and down…….if you fought with it long enough. So here’s a pic of it on the stand – again with the minifigs for scale. The back side of the ship is equally as impressive. The bottom section is covered up by the stand in this photo – sorry!Overall, this was a great build. Sometimes the larger builds can get sort of tedious but I had a good time doing this – especially spread over two afternoons. One thing that was a little annoying was having to repeat build something reversed because of the symmetry of the ship. So instead of building a new piece – its the same thing you just built – only backwards. But, it is what it is. It looks badass though. The colors are pretty accurate, and the overall look is pretty true to the movies.

My only negative comments would be a) the gun turret nose of the ship hangs low and covers the name/info plate, and b) stickers. Goddamn stickers. LEGO, get your shit together and start printing the images specially on the bricks. There is nothing more frustrating than having this gorgeous build that is completely ruined because you didn’t quite get a sticker on straight. It drives people mad for the rest of their existence! Also, the info plate is one giant sticker that is so nerve wracking trying to put on straight I had to get up and take a walk after. Seriously; stickers are terrible.